Deep End of the Ocean, The

A family is nearly torn apart twice—first when their 3-year-old son is kidnapped, and again when he is returned to them, a virtual stranger, nine years later. Writer Stephen Schiff and director Ulu Grosbard adapt Jacquelyn Mitchard’s novel into a good old-fashioned three-hankie weeper, with a sparkling, tasteful look of upper-middle-class affluence reflecting (no doubt) the audience it hopes to attract. It’s unexceptional but unobjectionable. Dutifully solemn, it won’t electrify an audience, but it won’t insult one either. As the bereft parents, Michelle Pfeiffer gives her noble cheekbones a workout while Treat Williams struts and frets manfully.